Blockchain startup Propy aims to revolutionize the $380B real estate industry creating a platform where real estate can be bought and sold, and property titles can be verified and registered with local authorities.

Propy has announced its Initial Coin Offering (ICO), based on the Ethereum platform, to be started on August 15, 2017. A total of 100,000,000 PRO tokens (app. $35M), will be put on sale till the offer expires on August 25, 2017.

The company aims to solve the inefficiencies and illiquidity of cross-border real estate investment with the first decentralized, global transactional property platform where real estate can be bought and sold, and property titles can be verified and registered with local authorities. Alongside, it expects to revolutionize the real estate industry utilizing smart contracts, which allow for more secure, rapid and cost-efficient transactions.

The platform has attracted many participants during the pre-sale and is backed by high profile names in the tech and real estate industry. The advisory board includes such experienced and highly qualified experts, as Michael Arrington (founder, TechCrunch), David Cowan (Bessemer Venture Partners), Vinny Lingham (Civic), Mike Costache (d10e), Bruce Cahan (Stanford University), and Jeremy Gardner (Blockchain Capital).

How the PRO Token Works

The Propy Utility Token (PRO) interacts with the Propy Registry specifically when users need to change ownership of a title or register a new title. It is designed to work as a method of settlement and as a means for interaction with Propy’s registry.

In addition, it will act as a sort of protection against ‘spam’, as the token would be required to write new transactions. Users would initiate the writing of new data to the Propy registry via Propy’s interface, whether that data would result in the creation of new title, or changing ownership of a title already recorded in the system.

Why Blockchain Technology?

Using Blockchain to solve the complex issues surrounding property, Propy integrates distributed ledger technology so that governments can create and issue titles to properties instantly, securely and in a cost-effective manner. It also helps match potential buyers with sellers and reliable brokers. On top of that, the users will be provided with information on the quality of life parameters in neighborhoods, for example walkability, air pollution and noise, etc.

Explaining the potential of blockchain technology and the reason for its adoption by Propy, Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of Popy said:

Blockchain technology is here to revolutionize the economy as we know it, but it remains immature. We are not blockchain romantics. We are not making extravagant claims and offering some massive quick fix that we’ll be unable to deliver. We’re pragmatic, seasoned business people with a sober, clear-eyed understanding of cryptocurrencies’ current limitations and commercial and regulatory obstacles.

Propy’s Security Issues

Since the company had its pre-sale going on when the Parity attack occurred, it caused a lot of concern to the team. Still, the concerns regarding the Parity issue and other attacks went away due to the company’s wise choice of Ambisafe multi-sig wallets instead of Parity, containing bugs.

The White Hat Group members have shared that the majority of funds saved by them were returned to their owners, which also included the Propy pre-sale participants. Among the members of the White Hat Group is Oleksii Matiiasevych, the developer of Ambisafe multi-sig wallet used by Propy token sale. Matiiasevych helped the group rescue millions of dollars’ worth funds from the Parity attack after he found the bug.

In light of this, Propy has most carefully addressed all the potential risks not only during the token sale but also for the future product.In particular, Ambisafe, being Propy’s technical token sale partner, is ensuring the highest security standard for the entire token sale process to provide a smooth crowdsale experience.

Regarding the latest Parity issue, for the token sale Propy uses a wallet that is a closed smart contract (unlike open-source Parity wallet), which among other features allows account recovery via a special two-factor authentication service, called secondfacdtor.io. Even if a customer loses his/her password he/she will be able to security regain access to his assets by going through an authentication with the two services described above.To my knowledge, this is the first two-factor authentication service, implemented in Ethereum (if you don’t count traditional multi-sig wallets).

It is planned, that after the ICO concludes, Propy will be conducting beta testing and by the end of the year they would have its transaction tool in production. First p2p transactions are to be conducted by July 2018.

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